Graduates, Apologies, and Promises
by OwenHarpersGirl
Summary: As Rory graduates from Chilton her family is there to support her, but what will she do when someone expected shows up?


Graduates, Apologies, and Promises

**What if things with Jimmy didn't work out at all? What if Jess showed up to Rory's graduation feeling like he has no one? What if Jess finally told Rory how he felt?**

"There she is!" Lorelai said excitedly as Rory hurried over to the group. "The graduate!"

Rory hugged her mother tightly and then moved over to hug Luke.

"Great speech," he told her, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Rory smiled, laughing as her mom and Sookie started teasing Luke for crying.

The smile slipped from her face though when she looked over Luke's shoulder and saw _him_ standing there. She walked away from the group and over to where he stood, hands buried deep in his jeans pockets.

"You're back," she said stiffly, crossing her arms.

"I promised I'd come to your graduation," he murmured.

"You made a lot of promises Jess," Rory reminded him shortly. "Promises you didn't keep, like not leaving without saying goodbye again."

"I know, I'm sorry," Jess said, scuffing his feet.

Rory stared at him. Jess was different somehow, he looked... smaller. Defeated.

"What happened Jess?" she asked, "Where did you go? _Why_ did you go?"

"I wasn't graduating," Jess told her after a moments hesitation. "I wasn't graduating and I would've had to repeat the year and then my father showed up."

"Luke mentioned that," Rory said.

Jess nodded. "Everything here was just falling apart so I went to California to see Jimmy."

"And?"

"And he told me I couldn't stay," Jess shrugged, "He came here to see me. He saw me and that was it, that was all he wanted. Me showing up was just an inconvenience."

"I'm sorry," Rory said quietly, "But you're wrong, everything wasn't falling apart here."

Jess looked at her and knew what she was saying.

"I didn't want to disappoint you," he muttered. Rory was still angry about him leaving, but hated seeing Jess like this. She reached out and took his hand.

"Jess..."

"You know what I did when Jimmy said he didn't want me?" Jess interrupted, "I went to New York. I thought maybe Liz would let me stay, but you know what happened? She didn't want me to stay either."

Jess's eyes were shining and Rory took a step closer to him.

"Jess, it's okay," she murmured. "It's me."

"Why..." he looked down at their connected hands, "Why don't my parents want me?"

Rory pulled him close, hugging him tightly.

"Because they're stupid," she said and Jess gave a wet chuckle. "That's the only reasonable explanation why they wouldn't want someone as amazing as you."

"I'm so sorry Rory," he murmured into her neck.

"We'll talk about that later," she said, "But promise me something?"

Jess nodded.

"Don't leave again. If you're dealing with something hard let me help you," Rory said.

"I promise," Jess said.

"And you better keep it this time," Rory said with a smirk, pointing at him. Jess gave a small smile and chuckled as Rory wiped away a few tears that had managed to escape.

"I..." he took a deep breath, "I love you."

"Jess..."

"You don't have to say it back," he added hastily, "Just.. I thought you should know."

Rory stared at him for a moment before kissing him.

"You mean it?" she asked breathlessly.

Jess nodded.

"Good," she said, "Cause I love you too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," Jess nodded, biting his bottom lip and smiling slightly, uncertain about what to do next.

"Come on," she grabbed his hand.

"Where are we going?" he laughed, following as she dragged him along.

"I'm going to show you around Chilton," she declared, "It's my last chance and _need_ to see the library."

Jess didn't say anything, just allowed himself to be pulled along, staring bemusedly at his girlfriend as she talked up a storm.

**So I know Jess was kind of OOC in this, but I feel like if Jess had returned to Rory after the whole mess in the show happened and finally admitted how he was feeling instead of being angry then we might've seen a different side to Jess.**

**Thanks so much reading!**


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